And Then There is the Small Screen …

So yeah, I love cinema. But I also love me some television too!

From time to time, I have tagged in this space couple of my posts as their content is targeted for the small screen. But like I have done in the past, I thought I would share with you some of the programming I am currently watching on television.

I really feel like scripted drama has for a number of years produced programming that rivals what is on offer at the local cinema, having the added benefit of time and space to allow a story and characters to breathe and become fully formed.

Borgen

This Danish political drama accomplishes what few of our favorites at home are able to achieve – show the complex inner workings and machinations of governing and the impact and cost this quest for power has on the personal lives of its players. I am still getting through all the episodes, but shout out to Todd Mason for being one of a few to bring this series to my attention.

Penny Dreadful (SHO)

Victorian Gothic horror at its finest. It’s a marvel – beautifully photographed and wonderfully played– this series takes many of the classic ‘monsters’ from literature, mixes them with some newly imagined folks and produces some must see television. It is a world of less than savory characters that we have just been introduced to. With a limited first series of just eight episodes, the stage is well set. And have no fear – you will have plenty of time to play catch up with it in time for the new season, coming sometime in 2015 (Season One is available Oct 7th on the following platforms: iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Google Play, Vudu, Target Ticket, Sony Ent Network & VerizonFios).

Game of Thrones (HBO)

Well, just because it is the land of swords and castles and Kit Harington’s flowing locks blowing in the wind. This last season ended on such an epic note for me I cannot even begin to describe. And no, I have not read the source material and have no intentions of doing so (decided a while ago); I am just going to go along for the ride, courtesy of HBO.

Outlander (STARZ)

The show has not even aired officially (starts this Saturday at 9:00PM), but the premiere episode (now available online and On Demand) has me hooked! So much so, I have already started to read ahead with the novels to find out what happens next.

Orphan Black (BBC America)

If truth be told this past season had a whole LOT going on (sometimes too much); season one ROCKED. And um … Tatiana Maslany.

This is an import so I really do not get to see it in real time (first caught on a trip abroad) but I love cake and this is like the most exciting, tension-packed thing you will probably ever see in a cookery show. SERIOUSLY – you guys are going to have to believe me.

Image Credit: BBC One

And coming this fall (next month to be exact) …

The final season of Sons of Anarchy (FX). Sure I was a bit late to this party, but I am glad to have joined. Its departure will be sad, but I am confident it will be a satisfying end (notice I did not say “happy”). And the above poster does not hold out too much promise (save Hunnam’s face).

Also in my wheelhouse: American Horror Story: Freakshow; Devious Maids (it knows what it is and I LOVE that about the show); whatever Masterpiece has on offer (The latest? Endeavor); House of Cards; Doctor Who (as of this month, starring Peter Capaldi).

I know I am missing some stuff. I really watch too much television. But what about you? Any recommendations to fill my DVR queue? What are you all watching? Hit the comments section below.

Lots of stuff coming west across the pond. ‘Orphan Black’ is a wonderful vehicle of Tatiana Maslany! Sometimes a bit too much plot. But I do like the ways her alter ego Soccer Mom and Cosmina are developing. Felix rocks hard, too!

Keep an eye open for re-runs of ‘The Bletchley Circle’ on PBS. An excellent mix of post WWII setting, costumes, suspense and stories. That are a clever cut above most fare in the U.S.

What I’ve been regularly watching of late: MASTERS OF SEX, TRUE BLOOD (not a bad wrap-up, if a bit too happy about the sadistic fate of its chief human monster), RECTIFY, YOU’RE THE WORST (not superb, but good), PLAYING HOUSE (better), RAY DONOVAN (the best episode of the series so far was on last night…still not first-rate, but worth catching), MANHATTAN (remarkably joyless even for its subject matter, but Olivia Williams and others nearly as good are carrying it nonetheless…her audience with guilty MP was a remarkable scene…also amusing for portraying Robert Oppenheimer as a Lorne Michaels sort of pompous ass), HALT AND CATCH FIRE (I was happy to have guessed correctly that this is loosely based on the Compaq Computers story…something they sorta kinda announced when they called the product the Giant, an inversion worth of BORGEN)…I’m several in with PENNY DREADFUL, and mean to catch up with THE KNICK and THE STRAIN, as I did with LONGMIRE. And ROOKIE BLUE is still amusing enough. ALPHA HOUSE on Amazon was the other comedy I’ve torn through in the last couple of months, even as I was catching up with S2 of ORPHAN BLACK and enjoying the pleasant enough THE BLACKLIST and AGENTS OF SHIELD. Most disappointing of late has been MARRIED, which has a fine cast (Judy Greer alone would get my attention) and has managed one episode that hasn’t sunk under the weight of being mostly about her character’s man-child husband and how adorably pathetic he is.